Weekly earnings flat, job growth strong in province

Average weekly earnings in Manitoba grew at one of the slowest paces in the country in February (0.1 per cent), Statistics Canada said today.

However, the number of non-farm payroll employees in the province — that’s people who work for someone, as opposed to being self-employed — grew at the fastest pace (1.4 per cent), the agency added.

It said average weekly earnings edged up to $832.68 from $831.97 in January. The only other province with a weaker showing was New Brunswick, where earning were unchanged.

The meagre earnings growth allowed Quebec to leap-frog over Manitoba into sixth place on the provincial earnings scale, at $833.71. Alberta remained at the top, with average earnings of $1,099.77, while the national average in February was $908.87.

On the employment side, the number of payroll employees in Manitoba grew by 8,100 workers to 581,400 from 573,300 in January. February’s total was also a two per cent improvement from a year earlier, when there were 570,300 payroll employees in the province.

Canada also saw its payroll employment grow by only 0.1 per cent, to 15.33 million from 15.31 million. The year-over-year increase was 1.6 per cent.

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